In cutting pliers of the traditional kind, the pliers jaw has edges which can be generally regarded as pointed, or in any case as only having an extremely small edge radius. This radius is unchanged along the entire length of the edge. The edge angle of the blade-portion is similarly unchanged along the entire length of the edge, from the tip of the jaw towards the joint, and this also applies to the width of the outer chamfer on the jaw. Such cutting pliers of a traditional kind are described, e.g. in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,990,735, the known pliers being also provided with a recess for stripping coated wire.
A disadvantage with such known pliers is that they have maximum utility solely for wire or rod within a narrow dimensional range and degree of hardness.
Cutting tools of the scissors type are also known in the art, as will be apparent from the Swiss Patent No. 597 994, and are intended for all round purposes, i.e. the tool should be able to be used for cutting both paper as well as hard material such as metal. For this purpose, at least one of the scissors blades has been formed with a progressively increasing edge angle from the tip of the tool towards the joint.
The known scissors tool with its pointed scissors cutting edges is not suitable for cutting wire-shaped material, which gives a heavily concentrated application of force to the edges. Although the inward part of the cutting blade with its larger cutting edge angle, situated closer to the scissors joint, is intended for cutting harder material, wire-shaped material could easily give rise to pitting damage on the scissors edges.